Automatic wrapping or packaging machines are designed to wrap products in flexible sheets of plastic film, typically heat sealable thermoplastic shrink film, fully automatically at speeds that can approach 200 linear feet per minute, depending upon the package and the application. Briefly, products to be packaged are continuously fed into a form/fill/seal machine using an infeed such as a conveyor. A single sheet of flat or folded film is delivered to a forming plow from an overhead powered film unwind or an inverting head from a film unwind. The size and shape of the forming plow or the inverting head depends upon the size and profile of the product to be packaged. As the film is drawn over the forming plow or the inverting head, it is inverted and forms a tube of film inside the forming plow or the inverting head into which the product is conveyed. The product enters this tube of web material and the product itself serves to maintain the shape of the tube as the product and film then continues through the machine in unison. The two edges of the single web of film are overlapped on the bottom, side, or top of the product and are sealed together, such as with a static sealing system or a thermal sealing system. The product passes through end seal jaws that seal in between the packages and concurrently sever individual packages from the tube of film. The wrapped package then typically proceeds to a shrink tunnel located at the discharge end of the wrapping machine, which shrinks the thermal film tightly around the product. Occasionally, the wrappers are used to perform containment bagging functions only without the use of a shrink tunnel. Wrapping or packaging machines that utilize two webs of material, one fed from above the product and one fed from below, that automatically wrap around the product and are sealed also are known.
As the speeds of form/fill/seal machines increase, the mechanism that feeds the products into the wrapping machine becomes an increasingly important component of a successful packaging line. Conventional machines are designed with the product infeeds as an integrated component of the overall form/fill/seal machine. These machines do not facilitate a rapid changeover from one style infeed to another.
It would therefore be desirable to provide modular product infeeds that readily can be attached and detached from the wrapping section of a form/fill/seal machine in order to efficiently accommodate a wide variety of products to be packaged.